


Balanced Lunch

by SamCyberCat



Series: Zombie Diet [8]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Gen, don't worry the OCs aren't there for shipping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-05-28 21:55:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15058622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SamCyberCat/pseuds/SamCyberCat
Summary: As Gou travels through Sano, trying to figure out what's going on with the gathering raiders, she reflects upon her life since the start of the outbreak and how it led her to be where she is today.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> The next part of the Trail Mix series, focused on Gou and her backstory. This will be a multi-chaptered fic and something I've been wanting to explore for sometime. I hope you all enjoy getting more insight into what Gou's life was like before she rejoined the group.

Gou would be lying if she said that the streets of Sano were filled with more raiders than she'd even seen, but there certainly were a lot of them. And unfamiliar raiders, at that, which was the worrying part. Last year, she'd known most of the raider who'd lived around here by face, with the occasional stranger drifting through to try their luck, but this crowd could've come from anywhere in Japan.

They were gathering.

Not in Sano, Gou could tell that much. Although they all moved at different paces, they were headed in the same direction and Gou had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that she knew where it was they were going – Iwatobi.

But before she could check out that hunch, she had to make sure that Sousuke and Makoto got out of Sano safely. Gou wasn't naïve, she knew that breaking away from them was a risky move. But she also felt in herself that she'd be able to move swifter on her own and there'd been no way to talk Makoto into letting her go. Sousuke might've said that they'd leave his dad's body back at the store for another time, but if the number of raiders coming through these parts kept swelling, it'd be harder to go get the body later. Their best choice was to move it now.

That was why Gou had made the split second decision to leave them. Sousuke understood her choice, she could see it in his face from the opposite side of the road after she'd moved, but what he didn't know was that Gou was still following them. Not all the way, but far enough to make sure that they got out of town and back into the mountains without coming to any harm. From there, Sousuke and Makoto's route would let them have cover all the way back to the cottage.

She had to keep her distance, which wasn't easy while also avoiding being seen by the raiders, but she managed. By the time Sousuke and Makoto disappeared behind the trees and out of her line of sight, Gou was satisfied. They'd be safe now. It was time to see what was going on.

As Gou turned to head back into the centre of Sano, she couldn't stop herself from thinking that this hadn't been the first time she'd chosen to leave her family for their own safety. But the first time hadn't gone nearly as successfully as this venture had done...

***

Gou was awoken by the sound of thumping and yelling from down stairs. She was alarmed, of course, and sat up to quickly rub the sleep out of her eyes. It had been an afternoon nap. The weather had been a little too warm, draining her of energy, so she'd rested her head with the intention of a quick recharge and must've nodded off.

She didn't stop to look for Steve, but that cat of hers generally made it known if he was around, so perhaps he'd already went off to hide somewhere after hearing the noise.

What was that noise?

She crept closer to the door and the yelling grew louder. Which was when she recognised the voice as Rin. He was shouting at... Mom?

“I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! N-not you too...! Mom, tell me where Gou is!”

He sounded more distressed than Gou had ever heard him. All other concerns put out of her head, Gou raced downstairs, calling out as she went.

“Rin! I'm here, it's okay!”

But as Gou reached the bottom of the stairs, she realised it wasn't okay. It would never be okay ever again. And the sight she saw before her would mark the beginning of a very different life to the one she'd been expecting to live.

Rin stood in the hallway, a baseball bat in his hands. It was covered in blood. Lying at his feet was their mom, who's head looked like... it had been smashed in! Had Rin done this? Gou's hands shot up to her mouth as she stared at him in wide-eyed horror. Rin had been apologising to their mom right up until he saw Gou. Then he just looked at her as if his heart was broken.

“It was too late... We have to move now, Gou!” Rin snapped.

He surged forward to grab her arm, but Gou stumbled backwards. She had no idea what was happening, she didn't want to believe what her eyes were showing her, but if Rin had attacked their mom, then she couldn't trust him.

“Stop it! Let go of me!” she screamed.

“There's not time for this!” Rin snapped, “We have to move before she gets back up!”

“Gets back up...?” Gou echoed.

As if to answer her question, a groan emitted from where their mom was lying on the floor. Gou looked down in time to see her pull herself up from where she lay, despite all the blood she'd already lost from where Rin had beaten her with the baseball bat. But her eyes... they were not the eyes of Miyako Matsuoka. They were hollow and unseeing. Her mouth hung open. She looked at Gou not as if she was looking at a daughter, but at a meal.

“Move!” Rin yelled.

Gou had no idea what was happening, but she knew that she had to go with Rin. Even if she was terrified from what she'd just witnessed, in her heart she knew that Rin would never do this to their mom unless he had no choice. So she scrambled to follow as he tugged her off the stairs and towards the door. They had to pass their mom, but Rin beat her off with a hard swing from the bat, which knocked her away long enough for them to get outside.

They fled as quickly as they could, but when Gou looked behind her, she saw that their mom was already trying to follow them, groaning in an almost inhuman voice as she went. And their mom wasn't the only one – as soon as they got out on the streets, Gou saw that people with vacant eyes were wandering around everywhere.

“Rin, please tell me what's going on...” Gou begged.

“Wish I knew,” Rin replied, though he didn't stop moving even as he spoke, “I was stopping in at Samezuka to see Ai and Momo, but it was already too late... Seijuro, too. They were all like this there. The further I got through town, the more people like this I saw. But they're coming for us, Gou. One bite and you're the same as them. I had to get back home... I had to find you...”

“So Mom and the others... they're gone? For good?” Gou asked, wanting to sob just thinking about that.

“I don't know for sure, but I'm not hopeful,” Rin admitted, “Look, it's awful, but we have to go somewhere safe now and then we can figure out what to do about everyone else. I called Sousuke and he's okay, so is Makoto. They were heading to Haru's house to check on him, since he never answers his damn phone. After that, we're all gonna meet up at the Returns, okay?”

“R-right...” Gou said. It was all she felt able to say as she tried to process what Rin had told her.

They moved as quickly as they could through the town, but whenever one of those... people confronted them, Rin was relentless. He had to be. Their safety was at stake. The two of them made it along to the harbour and only then did they stop to catch their breath.

“What about Steve...?” Gou said, “Do you think he'll be okay?”

“Can't say,” replied Rin, “I haven't seen many animals though, so maybe they left before we did.”

“I hope so...” said Gou. She turned to see if the path was clear in the direction they were headed, but that was when she heard the groaning again; “...They're here! Run!”

Behind them, a warehouse door collapsed under the weight of the... the zombies (there was no other name for them). All fisherman. They must've come back from a haul and been stuck inside the warehouse together until they were all infected. It was the right time of year for fishing, so fishermen would come from miles around to Iwatobi.

They would not be leaving.

“Shit!” Rin swore.

He stumbled backwards, but there were too many of them. Within moments, they'd descended upon Rin and Gou. Rin had his baseball bat to defend himself, which he swung with all his might, but Gou had nothing. All she could do was kick out as hard as she could and shuffle backwards in an effort to get away.

But Gou could only get so far. She felt herself bump against the edge of the walkway. It was the end of the line. Behind her was the ocean.

“Rin! You have to get away!” Gou called.

She hated the situation, but she could see from where she was that Rin had a clear path towards Haru's house once he'd beaten off the zombies. Whereas Gou... she didn't. There was no way that she could make it through them all without a weapon and not get bitten.

“I won't leave you!” Rin shouted.

And that was the problem... As Gou watched, instead of running away, Rin charged back into the fray of zombies, smacking them with the bat as he went. But one hit was never enough. The time it took him to get one zombies down let three more get closer to him. He wouldn't make it to Gou, but he wouldn't accept that.

Gou looked sadly across at her brother. Rin was a leader... the others needed him. Perhaps it was too late for their mom and for the team at Samezuka, but Sousuke, Makoto and hopefully the others were waiting to meet up with him. They needed Rin. And they needed him alive.

So Gou made a decision.

She got to her feet, feeling herself shake all over with fear. It wasn't that she was giving herself up for dead... she'd still have a chance. But Rin wouldn't if he stayed and she couldn't let him meet that fate. She had to make the decision for him. Rin had to leave.

“I'm sorry, Rin...” she said.

Their eyes met. He was already crying. In that moment, he knew what she was going to do.

“Gou! Don't! Don't you dare, Gou! I mean it...!” Rin called.

Gou took a step backwards, onto the ledge. She raised her voice so he'd hear her; “You've been a good brother! I'm glad you came back home and I'm glad that you'll be there for the others. Please protect them!”

With that, Gou turned and dived into the ocean. It was the last time she saw Rin alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gou wakes up alone on a beach, she heads back into Iwatobi to find Rin and the others. She doesn't find the others, but she does find Rin...

The only thing louder than the raiders themselves were the cars and vans that they drove. Gou could practically taste the adrenaline in the air and she could definitely smell it... Everyone seemed whipped up into a frenzy and that was the reason she stayed in hiding. These weren't the friendly sort of raiders who would give her information in exchange for goods, these people were on a mission.

She stuck to the backs of the buildings and hoped that they were all too distracted to pay her much mind, even if they did spot her. At the very least, it didn't seem as if there were any more raiders coming for into Sano the moment and the ones that where here were all set on a course towards Iwatobi.

As she made her way over a garden fence, she was greeted by a stray zombie. It could've been lying there dormant for months, but as soon as it saw her, it came to life, pulling itself up onto its feet. She took out her handgun and dispatched it with a swift shot through the forehead. Thankfully, Sano was too noisy right now for the shot to draw any attention.

The zombie sank back down onto the grass and would not rise again.

These days, she could kill them so quickly and effectively. Gou had been doing this for years. It was the way that she'd managed to stay alive. There was no choice but to desensitise herself, to tell herself that the zombies weren't people any more. And as much as the existence of zombies like Haru and Chiyo cast doubt onto that, those few special zombies made themselves obvious. Whereas regular zombies would bite you as soon as look at you. Dealing with them wasn't the right time to debate over morality, at least not in Gou's books.

But it hadn't always been so easy for her. She didn't go into the infected world as a zombie-killing machine. Few people did. Like most, Gou had to adapt. She gave herself credit that it had gone as well as it had done.

***

The water lapped against her face. Gou wasn't sure how she'd managed to drift so far and still make it, but she was lucky she had. Perhaps she'd swam once she'd made it into the water, but she honestly couldn't remember. The last thing she could remember was seeing Rin's face before she dived into the ocean...

Willing herself awake, Gou sat up and looked around. She was on a beach, just outside of Iwatobi, and she was the only one around. What happened didn't seem real, but she knew better than to assume it had been a wild dream. If it had been, then she had no explanation as to how she'd gotten out here.

The only thing she could think to do was to go back to Iwatobi and find the others. Rin said they were meeting up at the Returns, their old childhood swimming pool. How long they'd stay there for, Gou had no idea. She didn't even know how long she'd been unconscious for, but it felt like longer than a few hours. If she got there to find that they'd already gone, then she'd have to press on herself and hope to meet up with them along the way.

As she walked, Gou ran her hands through her hair, trying to brush the sand out. She must look quite a state right now. If only she'd had time to grab anything from the house before they'd left, but she didn't even have her phone with her. No way to contact anyone.

Part of Gou wondered if she should go back to the house, but she decided that was too risky. Their mom could still be waiting for them and the streets around there were filled with zombies. Besides, the longer she took, the less chance she'd have of meeting up with the others.

She she kept walking towards Iwatobi. The closer she got, the more people she saw, but honestly not many of them. It seemed that few people had gotten out alive. One thing those that did had in common was that they were all leaving Iwatobi. Gou walking in the opposite direction, actually headed into the town, attracted attention. A middle-aged woman stopped her.

“Are you on your own, dearie? You should come with us. We're heading for the station in Sano to see if the trains are running from there. Got to evacuate as fast as possible,” the woman said.

“Thanks, but I need to get into town, my brother and his friends are waiting for me,” Gou insisted.

“I don't think that's a good idea. They'll have left by now. Not a lot of people still hanging around. Even I regret staying this long,” said the woman.

“How long as it been since... well, since the start of this?” Gou asked.

“People started changing yesterday, but the power went out before we could find out what to do,” the woman replied, “My sister in Sapporo called and told me that it's safe there though, so that's where I'm heading.”

Yesterday... That meant it had been a full day since Gou had been separated from Rin. It was a long time for them to wait for her and part of Gou hoped that they hadn't put themselves at risk by doing so. If the infection (assuming it was an infection) hadn't spread too far out of Iwatobi, then they might have a chance to reach safety.

Hopefully those leaving town weren't taking the infection with them though.

“Do you want to come with us?” the woman asked again.

Gou hadn't realised she'd been spacing out until those words snapped her back to reality. But she shook her head.

“Thanks for the offer, but I won't be able to settle until I've at least looked where my brother wanted to meet up,” said Gou, taking a step towards town to demonstrate her point, “I hope that you stay safe, though.”

“You too, dearie. Best of luck!”

With that, the woman carried on and so did Gou. As she got into Iwatobi itself, Gou worried about her chances of making it. The streets were filled with zombies and there wasn't anything she could do about that. Perhaps there'd be a weapon in one of the houses, but breaking into them felt wrong. Those were people's homes and they could come back to them once this was over. Assuming that the people living in those houses weren't already dead...

The one advantage that Gou had over the zombies was that she was smart. She had her wits about her and she'd lived in Iwatobi for a long time. She knew all the back alleys and shortcuts, especially on the way to the swimming pool, since Rin had gone there so often as a kid.

As the sky was starting to fade into orange, she made it there. Much to her dismay, the first sight that greeted her was Coach Sasabe at the front desk, but not as she remembered him. He had a butcher's knife through his forehead and lay back in his chair, magazines scattered all around him in the floor. His mouth was hanging open and it was covered in blood. He'd been taken out by someone who had no choice. All Gou could hope was that it wasn't one of the others who'd had to do it.

She wanted to call out, but she knew that wouldn't be a good idea. She'd be more likely to get the zombies' attention by doing that than she would find the others. If they were even still here. She couldn't hear anything other than the occasional groan from a distant zombie. Hopefully the others were just staying quiet as well.

Gou cautiously made her way through to the pool itself, which was a vile sight. There were zombies in the water, but none of them could figure out how to get out of the pool, which was the only thing that kept her safe. They all waded towards her on sight, but couldn't do more than grope at the edge of the pool. All she could do was keep her distance and hope that they wouldn't pull themselves up.

After a few minutes of looking around, Gou couldn't find anyone she knew and no one still human, either. She headed through to each room in the building and spent a few minutes looking, but she was greeted by the same outcome in each one. There was no one.

That didn't have to be a bad thing. She told herself that it could mean that they'd already left and headed on to safety. After all, when she'd dived into the ocean, her intention had been for Rin to accept that she was gone and not put himself at further risk trying to help her. The best outcome was that as many of the others as possible would have left Iwatobi and that Gou will be able to meet up with them by following.

They were probably headed for Sano. That was where Sousuke's family lived, as well as Kisumi. Sano was close enough to Iwatobi that it could also be at risk, so it made sense that most people would head that way to warn others as quickly as possible.

With that in mind, Gou headed out of the Returns, trying not to look at Sasabe as she did. But before she could head off, she saw someone, standing away from her and staring towards the ocean. Gou didn't know how she'd missed him before, perhaps he'd only come that way now, but she recognised that red hair anywhere.

“Rin...”

The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them, but they grounded the situation. Rin was here. She hadn't missed him.

And yet... the others weren't. She didn't know what had happened to them, but Rin definitely said that Sousuke and Makoto were all right when he'd spoken to them. So where were they now? And why were Rin's shoulders slouched in such a way? It didn't seem like the strong, confident way that Rin had always held himself...

She knew the answer before Rin even turned around, but that didn't make it any easier. His eyes were blank, his mouth was covered in blood and his arm was dripping from where he'd been bitten.

Rin was infected...

Even after Gou had jumped into the ocean so he'd have a chance to escape, it had ended the same way. It looked like he'd at least made it to where he was supposed to meet up with the others, but he hadn't made it any further than that. And what of the others...? Had they left? Had Rin bitten them? He seemed to be the only one around.

Rin was gone... Mom was gone... Gou was the last Matsuoka left.

She just wanted to scream. She had to fight to keep her mouth shut, but nothing could stop the tears from rolling down her cheeks. When Rin looked at her, he didn't see her. Just like Mom hadn't. He was completely gone. He opened his mouth, showing those sharp teeth that she'd once been able to see form a friendly smile. But she would never see that again.

He lunged for her and Gou fled.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Gou makes it to Sano, she doesn't find Sousuke and the others. But she does meet two people who are looking for Kisumi and might be able to help her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's the introduction of Chiyo and Hibiki! Even if Hibiki didn't last very long in the present day timeline of this series, I've been looking forward to using him here, as well as more of pre-zombie Chiyo.

The raiders had swept through Sano like a swarm of locusts, but now they were gone. There was nothing in Sano worth staying for these days. But there would be more raiders, Gou just knew it. They had to be headed for Iwatobi, probably because of what had been written on that poster she'd found. Some preacher claiming they could save everyone... Honestly, some people would believe anything. But then again, when times were desperate, Gou knew that everyone just wanted something to cling to. She couldn't blame the raiders for that, even if she didn't believe what that poster had said. The cure was too widespread to be stopped at this point.

At least now they were gone, she could walk through Sano more freely and think about her next course of action. Gou didn't want to go back to the cottage until she had information that might help them all, but she also wasn't sure if following so closely behind the raiders was such a good idea either. If they saw her and decided she wasn't trustworthy, then she might not be able to go back to the cottage at all. And the others needed her.

There'd been two places she'd originally been planning to head out to when she'd come here this morning – her old trade post in the forest and the barn that Chiyo and Hibiki used to live in. The barn wasn't too far out of Sano itself and the trade post just a bit further than that. Perhaps if she went to those places first, it would give the raiders a chance to head off and clear her path all the way to Iwatobi.

That decision made, she walked through Sano. The town was so bleak now, as it had been for years. When the infection had first broken out, Sano had fallen as fast as Iwatobi did. But she didn't know that back then. All she knew was that she might find her friends in Sano. And even if she didn't find the people she'd been looking for, Gou did meet two people who would go on to become the friends she needed in the infected world...

***

It wasn't a wasted journey. It can't have been. There had to be someone she knew left alive in Sano. But the Yamazaki store was empty...

The shutters were down, which gave her hope that someone might be holed up inside hiding. But no matter what she did to draw attention to herself, nobody came. She called out, she threw stones at the upstairs windows, but there was no sign that anyone inside could hear her. When she went around the back of the building and hitched herself up onto the high fence, she saw a sight that made her lose even more hope – Sousuke's dad lying dead in the garden.

It looked as if he'd been taken out quickly and then left there. The backdoor looked like it was shut tight, but Gou didn't even dare go into the garden. What if Mr. Yamazaki got back up? Gou struggled enough with the thought of taking out a zombie, let alone someone she knew. Her family had been friends with the Yamazaki family for as far back as she could remember. She'd known Sousuke's parents since she was young and now she knew for sure that one of them was gone...

Gou dropped back down from the fence onto the path. She had to piece this together. Sousuke's dad might be gone, but that didn't mean the others had to be. Maybe they'd locked up the store with the intention of coming back to it later on, but they were still around somewhere. Gou had taken a while to get to Sano, so it was possible that she'd just missed them.

Where would be the first place that Sousuke would go?

If Gou knew Sousuke (and she felt like she knew him pretty well), his priority would be finding as many of his friends as possible to help them to safety. Kisumi lived in Sano, so it made sense that Sousuke would head that way to check if he was all right. Meaning that the Shigino residence was the next place that Gou should check.

If they weren't there, well... Gou would decide what to do after that.

She kept to the smaller streets as she walked, because it meant that she was less exposed. Even if it also meant that she'd have less room to get away if she did come across a zombie. But it seemed as if she wasn't the only one who'd had that idea. As she reached the corner of one street, she heard voices. The first living people that she'd come across since she'd arrived in Sano.

“Look, he's not here! You know he's not here, we literally saw his parents wandering around, trying to eat our brains or whatever it is that they want. Even if Kisumi and Hayato did get away, why would they stick around? It's best if we accept that and move on while we have the chance. If we can get to an airport, I could get us a flight to America and we can stay with my family until this blows over.”

The Shigino brothers? Someone else was looking for them! Gou rushed out onto the street to meet whoever these people were.

“Hey! You guys know Kisumi and Hayato? I do as well, maybe you could help me,” she called.

Gou was greeted by one person she was vaguely familiar with and another person who she'd never seen before. It was the person who she'd never met who'd been talking and he looked almost irritated by the sight of her, as if she was interrupting his D&D campaign (he definitely looked the type) instead of seeking help during a zombie outbreak. He was an African-American guy who looked only a few years older than her, lanky and bespectacled, with frizzy hair going in all directions.

His companion was someone who Gou knew lived in Sano, but she'd never spoken to him directly. He was also black, but Gou knew that he'd lived here since he was a young boy, since they'd both gone to the Sano Elementary School in the same year group. Chiyo, she believed his name was. He'd always seemed like a nice enough person and she knew he was friends with Kisumi. He was also taller than anyone Gou had ever met and built like a brick house. If anyone was prepared to survive the apocalypse, it was this guy.

Chiyo was the one who replied to her.

“Hi! It's Matsuoka, right? Good to see someone else alive,” he said, “We've been to Kisumi's house, but we couldn't find him or Hayato, just their parents. And they were already gone. Have you had any more luck finding people?”

Gou shook her head; “No, it's just me on my own. My family were infected and I don't know about my friends. I was hoping they'd be in Sano...”

“Why don't you come with us?” Chiyo asked, “Makes sense that we should all stick together.

“Um! We literally don't know who she is,” snapped the other guy.

“Relax, Hib, she's fine,” assured Chiyo, “The Matsuokas are familiar faces around here. But we probably should all introduce ourselves, huh?” He looked back at Gou; “I'm Chiyo Tenfuji and this grumpy guy here is, uh, Hibiki Rhodesdale.”

He said Hibiki's name as if it was strange to him and Gou had to admit that she hadn't come across a name like Hibiki combined with such a grand-sounding western surname before. While Gou didn't doubt Chiyo, she also wasn't sure what to believe about Hibiki. Yet these two might be her best chance of finding the others, so it made sense to stick with them.

“Gou Matsuoka. We used to go to school together when we were kids, I think,” she said, “If you'll have me, I'll gladly come with you. What are your plans?”

“To get out of Japan as fast as possi-”

“-We're searching Sano as thoroughly as we can,” Chiyo said, cutting off Hibiki, “I'd rather not leave until I know for sure what's happened to Kisumi. What about you?”

“Well, I had been hoping to find Sousuke at Kisumi's place. But if he's not there, then... I don't know. Just keep looking until I hopefully find my friends,” said Gou, “But it's not easy when I don't know what their plans are.”

“If they've got any sense, they'd be leaving. Which is what we should be doing,” Hibiki said, with a click of his tongue, “We'd already be gone if this guy wasn't so obsessed with finding Kisumi.”

“I'm not obsessed if it might save someone's life,” Chiyo insisted, “And I'm not stopping you from leaving if you want, Hib, but I won't give up so easily.”

“Can you believe this guy?” Hibiki exclaimed, appealing to Gou now, “The power's out, we have no idea how widespread this is, I could easily get us safely out of the country if he'd just budge and yet he's so stubborn!”

To Gou, it seemed as if both of them had a point, but because Hibiki was so snappy, she felt more inclined to side with Chiyo.

“I'd rather stay to look as well,” she said, “But if Kisumi wasn't there, we can't rule out that he might've already left town himself, especially if he had Hayato with him. So if we stay too long, we might miss them. Maybe we could look for another day and then head off? Though I'm not so sure about the leaving the country part.”

“Look, if you guys are happy in Japan, then I'll wave goodbye to you from my plane, but I am not putting myself at risk. And you shouldn't either,” Hibiki retorted.

“One day sounds like a good compromise,” said Chiyo, “We can check all of Sano in that time. It'd probably be a good idea to find somewhere to stay overnight though. Our apartment got ransacked, so it's not safe there. Do you know anywhere Gou?”

“I might do... You know about the Yamazaki's store, right? It's been locked up and the shutters are down, but there doesn't seem to be anyone there,” Gou replied, “I almost don't want to suggest breaking in, but I know that Sousuke and his family would sooner see us safe than exposed out on the streets.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Chiyo agreed, “And since it's a store, there's a good chance that there might still be food and other supplies inside. Let's go there now.”

“What about the shutters?” asked Gou.

Chiyo gave her a smile. He reached into his backpack and pulled out a crowbar.

“Thankfully, I came prepared,” he said, “We had to grab anything we could to take out the zombies and this seemed useful. I should be able to prise the shutters open with it.”

Gou had to admit that Chiyo looked strong enough to do just that. So with the decision made, the three of them headed back the way she'd just come from, towards the store. Gou noticed that despite his complaints about hanging around Sano, Hibiki stayed close to Chiyo as they walked, practically hanging off his arm at times. What was that guy's deal? Maybe Gou would find out if he didn't jet off at the first opportunity, but right now she was more concerned with finding the others.

Once they were there, Chiyo got to work on the shutters. It was a shame to damage them, but it was the easiest way into the store. Even with his bulk, he grunted under the weight of them as he managed to get the crowbar underneath and started to pull.

“A little help here...?” he murmured.

“Can't. I'm way to fragile for that,” Hibiki dismissed.

“For goodness sake...” Gou muttered.

She didn't know if she'd be any better, but she wanted to help just to spite Hibiki now. Gou put her hands underneath the shutter as far as Chiyo had managed to raise it and began to pull. It wasn't easy, but between the two of them they eventually managed to get it open.

“Now let's get inside before any zombies come along,” Chiyo urged.

They made their way into the store and Chiyo pulled the shutter back down behind them. It wouldn't close properly now, but it would deter any zombies, since they seemed to just wander around unless they were going for someone. It would take a living person to figure out the shutters were loose and in that case, Gou wanted to find as many living people as possible.

The wooden door behind the shutters didn't take nearly as long to break into. Once they were inside, their footsteps echoed throughout the small store.

“Sousuke?” Gou called, she just couldn't help herself.

There was no response. Gou would search the whole building to make sure, but she doubted anyone was here. Yet she didn't have to look very far to see that people had been here. Supplies were taken from the shelves. She noticed right away that it was mostly tinned goods and other items that would keep for a long time that were gone. That gave her hope that the others might've been here and prepared themselves for a long journey.

“Looks like there's some supplies left,” Chiyo commented, “The fresh food won't be too great now that the power's been off for a while, but we should eat whatever won't last while we're here and then take the rest of the tins when we head out.”

“That sounds like a plan,” said Gou.

At least, it was the beginning of one, at any rate. And that was what Gou needed right now if she was going to survive in this world.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Gou is heading through the mountains with her new travelling companions, she learns a bit more about them. And when they come across some zombies, she learns something about herself as well.

The route to the barn was one that Gou knew by heart. She'd come this way many times over the years, always to see Chiyo and Hibiki. Except that wasn't why she went there today, since neither of them were left. Hibiki was gone for good now and Chiyo had needed to abandon the barn when he'd fled to the mountains with Sousuke's group. That was what it was like to be a raider, you had to be prepared to drop everything at a moment's notice. Even somewhere that you'd lived for years.

Gou wasn't surprised to find the barn doors broken open when she got there. Honestly, she was just happy that no one had decided to take up residence here in the year that Chiyo had been absent from it. But the place had been thoroughly turned upside down, with anything of use taken. That meant clothes, canned food and any ammo that had been left behind. There was nothing for Gou to take here, but at least she'd be able to report back to Chiyo and let him know what had come of his old home.

...Actually, there might be something she could take.

As Gou stepped inside the barn, her eyes fell on the back wall. The centre of which displayed many photos, pinned up along the divide that had separated Chiyo's half of the barn from Hibiki's half. Whoever had raided the barn had left these hanging up, probably out of respect to the people who'd been living there. Out of everything she could've taken back to Chiyo, Gou thought that these were the best option.

She headed over to the wall and started to take them down, admiring each one as she did. They showed lives completely untouched by the infection, a time that was now lost. Chiyo was a party animal in his youth, which surprised Gou when she'd first seen these photos, given how mild-mannered Chiyo seemed. Although she was certain she knew the reason why he'd gone to so many parties – one of the photos showed Chiyo and Kisumi with their arms slung around each other, laughing at some long forgotten joke. Kisumi was the reason that Chiyo did a lot of things, for better and worse. The reason he'd dragged his feet about leaving Sano at the beginning of the outbreak was Kisumi and looking back on that now, Gou knew that she'd be firmer in telling Chiyo to get a move on if the same thing happened again. But the outbreak had been a learning curb for them all and the fact that they were still here stood as testimony that they'd done something right.

...Then there was Hibiki, who wasn't still here with them, although he had lasted a long time. Part of Gou secretly wondered how Hibiki managed for as long as he did. The guy was never suited to the world of survival and Gou suspected that without Chiyo to look after him, Hibiki would've gone down much quicker. On most of the photos, Hibiki was in the background, scowling over at Chiyo and Kisumi having fun together. Hibiki's reasons for acting like he did were obvious as well. For the most part, they'd been obvious from the start.

She finished taking down the photos and put them into her pack. Then she had a quick hunt around the barn for anything else that might've been valuable, before giving it up for a lost cause and heading on.

Her next stop was her own trading post out in the forest. And then it'd be onwards to Iwatobi, to find out why the raiders were gathering there.

***

They were on the move out of Sano at last. It had taken longer than Gou would've liked, but in the end she'd reasoned with Chiyo that if Kisumi had moved on, then they'd be wasting time by hanging around longer. Their best bet was to hurry on and hope that they'd meet him out on the road.

The three of them were quite far out into the mountains now, sticking to the road as best they could. They did occasionally pass people, but none of them were alive any more. They were all either zombies or corpses. The virus was spreading.

“What if it's the same everywhere we go?” said Gou, “I don't want to be pessimistic, but we have no idea how fast this thing is moving across Japan. It could be everywhere...”

“Then that's just Japan,” Hibiki retorted, not even caring when Gou glared at him for dismissing her entire country, “As long as the airport is still functioning, we can get out of Japan and go to safety. There's no way it's spread fast enough to reach other countries yet. We have a chance.”

“What makes you think the airports will even be up and running? Everything else we've seen has gone down. There isn't even any power that we know of,” Gou argued.

Hibiki rolled his eyes; “Of course the airports will still be running, that's the easiest way for them to get people to safety. Besides, my family are rich, so they'll see to it that I get out safely no matter what. As long as there's a phone line there, I can contact them.”

“Couldn't you have done that before now?” Gou asked. She was determined to catch this guy out somehow, he set her on edge.

“Ah, well... my phone's sitting uselessly on its charger back at our apartment. I'd have to get past a pretty nasty-looking zombie to grab it, so I decided it wasn't worth it,” Hibiki admitted.

Gou had to confess that her phone had met a similar fate, so she couldn't make any comments about that.

“All right, so your plan is to get to the next town with an airport and have your family get you to America. But what if you don't find Kisumi before that?” Gou asked.

Both of them stopped talking for a moment and looked at Chiyo, who was walking ahead of them, hopefully out of earshot.

“...Then Chiyo won't come,” Hibiki answered, “You think I don't know that? He wouldn't abandon his precious Kisumi and there's no way I could force him to come if he didn't want to – Chiyo's, like, twice the size of me.”

“It does seem that way,” Gou agreed, “He really cares about Kisumi a lot, doesn't he?”

“Too much, if you ask me,” said Hibiki, “They weren't even dating, but Chiyo's always followed Kisumi around like a lost puppy. I could never tell if Kisumi was just clueless or if he was really good at keeping my Chiyo on the ropes.”

“Your Chiyo?” Gou said, “And don't talk that way about Kisumi. He's been my brother's friend since they were kids and he's always been a great person. He'd never lead someone on like that.”

“Believe what you want to believe,” Hibiki dismissed, “And yes, my Chiyo. I'm the one who's known him since we were both little kids. Our families are super close, even if Chiyo's parents did move to Japan. Chiyo and I are practically in love. He just... doesn't know it yet.”

Gou raised an eyebrow; “...So this is some kind of love triangle? You want to get with Chiyo, but he's only interested in Kisumi and it looks like Kisumi doesn't even know it.”

And here Gou thought that her friends got involved in too much drama. At least there was never anything like that going on in Iwatobi, at least as far as Gou knew.

“I'm not going to dignify that with a response,” Hibiki huffed, “And if you want a seat on my family's private plane, then you'd do well to not call me out like that.”

“Look, I can't say for sure if I want to leave the country myself,” said Gou, “There's still a chance that my friends might be out here and I don't want to give up on them. If I don't have them, then I don't have anyone left. No one at all...”

Saying it out loud made the words dawn on Gou properly for the first time. Her mom was gone, Rin was gone and she hadn't seen any sign of the others. If she couldn't find them, what was she carrying on for? Was she truly the last one left in this zombie world...?

Gou went silent for a while, the only sound being both of their footsteps marching across the tarmac road. But then it seemed that even Hibiki took pity on her, despite his stubbornness.

“...America's quite nice, you know?” he offered, “It's very different from here, but it wouldn't be impossible for you to start again. If you wanted, you could stay with us for a while or my dad could buy you a pla-”

Hibiki was silenced by walking into Chiyo's back. It must've been like hitting a brick wall. Hibiki pulled back, his face etched with rage.

“What's the big idea!” Hibiki demanded.

But Chiyo didn't say anything. Instead he just pointed ahead. Zombies, a whole pack of them. Feasting on the remains of what looked like a group of hikers. Chiyo was already reaching for the crowbar that was attached to his backpack.

“I'll see to them. You two hang back,” he said.

“Fine by me!” squeaked Hibiki, taking several steps further back as Chiyo moved forward to take the zombies out.

As Gou watched, she once again found herself torn between the two conflicting opinions of Chiyo and Hibiki. It wasn't that she couldn't understand Hibiki's reluctance, for all he was a coward. One bite from a zombie and you were gone. Yet if they were going to be travelling like this, it was inevitable that they'd come across more zombies as they went. It wasn't fair to expect Chiyo to deal with all of them just because he was huge and strong. Besides, if Chiyo got bitten, then who'd be there to protect them next time?

Gou liked Chiyo. Perhaps his devotion to Kisumi blinded him, but he seemed like a good person and he'd let her travel with them, no questions asked. She didn't want him to die. She didn't want to lose one more person. The outbreak had already taken too many from her.

So before she knew what she was doing, Gou surged forward to rush after Chiyo.

“What are you doing? Get back here before you get bitten!” Hibiki hissed after her.

But Gou ignored him. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that charging zombies with no weapons was a bad idea, but she also knew that Chiyo's crowbar would only get him so far. He swung it around with such force, but usually the zombies just got back up after being knocked down.

That was when she saw it. One of the hikers had dropped a backpack and its contents were spilled out across the road. Lying cleanly out in the open like a glistening ray of hope was a single handgun.

Gou had never seen a gun before. She'd never thought about firing one or wondered if she even could. Yet she didn't hesitate. When she picked up that gun, something inside of her seemed to say that this was the beginning of the rest of her life. The true start of her survival. She would not hide behind others. Gou would defend herself.

With that decision made, Gou aimed the gun at a zombie to the left of Chiyo and fired. She wished she could've taken it down instantly, but her aim was shaky. Blood spurted out of the zombie's arm though and that did cause a distraction.

“What the...!” Chiyo cried.

“Get out of the way! I've got this!” Gou called.

Chiyo wasted no time in moving. He trusted her. When he pulled back, Gou fired a couple more shots into the same zombie and it was stunned enough so that Chiyo could finish the job by bashing its head in with the crowbar.

“We can do this!” he called, “Let's take 'em all out!”

It was a crazy sort of adrenaline, but Gou had never felt more alive. She couldn't claim to enjoy killing what had once been people, but she made herself focus on the people she was protecting. Perhaps she'd not known Chiyo or Hibiki for that long, but they were the only people she had left in this world and she was going to damn well make sure she protected them. An effort that was made so much easier with Chiyo helping her right back. They made a good team.

Gou didn't keep track of how long it took to dispatch the hiker zombies, but the zombies were slow and stupid compared to Gou and Chiyo's attacks. Seeing that made Gou feel oddly less worried about dealing with zombies in future. As long as the zombies didn't ambush them, they could manage.

Soon enough, Gou and Chiyo were standing in a pile of lifeless bodies. It was an unfortunate thing to have to watch, but Chiyo went around the zombies and snapped each of their necks with his huge hands, to make sure they wouldn't come back. He shook his hands off when he was done, grimacing.

“Maybe we could head off the road to find a river soon, because I want to get washed as soon as possible,” he said. Then he turned to Gou and smiled; “That was amazing back there! Thanks for helping. I had no idea you were such a good shot.”

“Hah... neither did I!” Gou replied, “It was lucky that one of those hikers had a gun with them. We should probably check their bags before we move on, just in case they had anything else useful.”

Chiyo nodded and the two of them moved to look through all the bags they could find, some of them still attached to the hikers. These people clearly hadn't been expecting the outbreak while they were travelling through the mountains. It strengthened Gou's beliefs that the infection was travelling through the water. The hikers could've been infected from a river a-and her mom from drinking water from the tap... It was a good thing Gou and the others had been boiling the water before they drank it as a precaution. Even the bottled water they'd taken from the Yamazaki's store.

“Good work out there, guys!” Hibiki called, as he walked over from where he'd been hiding, “I knew you could do it!”

Gou scowled at him; “And what if we couldn't? Would you have helped us or watched us get eaten?”

“Of course I'd have helped!” Hibiki replied, though the shrill tone of his voice suggested otherwise.

She didn't feel up to arguing with him. Gou turned away to carry on checking through one of the bags. Perhaps Hibiki was one of the last two people she had and she would protect him, but that didn't mean she had to like the guy.

If he did hop on a plane and leave them as soon as they got to the next town, then it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trio have reached an airport after travelling for several days. But Gou and Chiyo don't see any reason to believe that it will be the ticket out of here that Hibiki wants it to be.

Given the state she'd found Chiyo and Hibiki's barn in, Gou didn't expect that her trade post out in the forest would've fared any better. Lowering your expectations was the first life advice she'd give to anyone who hoped to survive a zombie apocalypse. Well, that and long-range weapons work better than short-range if you have the choice.

Gou's trade post was well-established within the local area. She'd been one of the first, at least around here. As the years went on, a community had formed between what the compound guards referred to as “raiders”, on account of the times that said raiders would steal what the compound regarded as their supplies. The raiders claimed this name for their own – anyone who didn't go to the compound and chanced living out in Japan was a raider. It'd be wrong to say that they thrived, but they figured out how to live by their own system.

Gou was part of that system. She'd set up the trade post in a carefully chosen part of the forest. The cliffs gave her safety from whatever could be wandering around on the ground and the cave gave her a place to live and store whatever goods she'd gathered and traded. The place was far enough into the forest that the compound guards wouldn't wander out here without a reason, while still being close enough to Iwatobi and Sano that fellow raiders could find it if they were willing to look.

Chiyo and Hibiki had spread word of the place for her in the beginning. Well, mostly Chiyo. Hibiki never fully adjusted to life out here and would mostly stay holed up in the barn unless Chiyo absolutely needed his help for hunting, fishing or raiding. In the end, Gou had decided not to stay with the two of them for good, but they remained close friends. Chiyo was the trade post's best customer and he'd often help Gou out on raids, since they both benefited from them. Their friendship was useful to both of them and valuable beyond that.

...But the days of the trade post were now gone, even if Gou's friendship with Chiyo was not. In a way, Gou's sentimentality saw to it that she'd made the biggest trade in her career as a raider – she'd given up the trade post and the life she'd built for herself here in exchange for having Sousuke, Makoto, Haru, Kisumi, Mrs. Yamazaki and Hayato back. As far as Gou was concerned, she'd got the better outcome from that trade. Having these people back in her life was more than she could ever have hoped for.

Which was why she wasn't too disappointed to find the trade post ransacked when she arrived. She didn't even blame anyone. If someone suddenly disappeared, then you assumed the worst and moved on. If Gou had been in the position of her customers (and there'd been times when she had been), she would've done the same. A dead person doesn't need supplies, after all.

Anything of use had been taken, save for a few emergency supplies that Gou had kept hidden at the back of the cave. Some ammo and a measly amount of tinned rations that would keep her going for a few days if she'd needed to evacuate. It wasn't that she desperately needed them now, since Gou had a home in the mountains to go back to, but it'd be a shame to waste them. Gou didn't plan on coming back to the trade post after this visit. It was a relic of her past now.

She climbed back down the ladder for a final time, gave the place a fond look and then headed off for her next and final stop before she headed back to the mountains – Iwatobi.

***

This town looked the same as everywhere they'd seen so far. Infected. There were zombies roaming the streets and the few living people they did see were hurrying about with intent, not stopping to take a chance with any strangers.

To the surprise of both Gou and Chiyo, it was Hibiki who took the lead right now, but only because he was so determined to reach the airport. Whenever he came across zombies, Gou and Chiyo had to deal with them. Though it looked like they had a stretch of road without any immediate danger, so Gou took this chance to talk to Chiyo. She lifted her head up to look at him.

“Hey, so... I don't think the airport will be any different,” she said. Might as well be honest.

“Honestly? Neither do I. But Hib needs to see that with his own eyes before he'll accept it,” Chiyo replied, “It won't be easy, but... well, hopefully he'll take it better than he takes most things that don't go his way.”

The doubt in Chiyo's voice was obvious. Even if Chiyo was too nice to say it, Gou made a mental note to prepare for Hibiki acting up once he learned the truth.

Still, there was something else that Gou was curious about, even if it'd probably end up being a moot point.

“Chiyo, let's pretend for a moment that the airport is up and running,” Gou said, “Do you think you'll go with him to America?”

“No,” said Chiyo. Not a single moment of hesitation.

“Because of Kisumi?” Gou assumed.

“We don't know that he's dead. We didn't come across any signs from Sano to here, so he could still be out there,” Chiyo insisted.

That was true, but he could also... be dead. Gou hated to think like that, of course she wanted to believe that her friends were alive, but the truth of the matter was that Gou, Chiyo and Hibiki had taken a single route from Sano to here and there were so many places where the path branched off. So many paths that Kisumi could've taken (assuming he'd left Sano in this direction at all), had a run-in with some zombies and... they'd never know. Just because they hadn't seen a body didn't mean there wasn't one out there. Gou had to be the realist in this situation, because unfortunately Chiyo wouldn't be.

“He could, but... what if he's not and this is your last chance to get out?” Gou reasoned, “It sounds like you know Hibiki's family very well. I'm sure they'd see to it that you were looked after in America. Then perhaps once the infection's been dealt with in Japan, you could come back and look for Kisumi again. I'm sure it'd be easier to find him after that.”

“Do you think that... there's an end to this?” Chiyo asked. It was a genuine question, he wanted to believe what she was saying.

Gou looked around her. In the matter of a few days, power was completely gone. People had fled from their homes. Shop displays were destroyed by those desperate to find food. It didn't look like anyone was doing anything about it. But someone had to be, right?

...Perhaps she wasn't such a realist after all.

“Would you two hurry up? It's just around the corner!” Hibiki called.

That marked the end of their conversation, without any real answers about what Chiyo would do. Although Gou felt that she hadn't swayed him in regards to going to America. Not that it mattered, since Gou doubted that any of them would be catching a plane today.

Hibiki hurried ahead, so the two of them picked up the pace to follow him, in case he ran into any danger.

“It's through here!” Hibiki called.

The airport had come into view now. The front of the building was large and like many airports, it was on the edge of the town. A high fence surrounded it, keeping people off the runways. If not for the open, inviting glass doors at the front, this might've actually been a good place to avoid the infected.

“I know this place by heart. We always fly to this airport when we come to Japan,” said Hibiki, as he hurried through the doors.

Gou and Chiyo shared a worried glance. Then they hurried after him.

“...It's... it's...”

Once inside, they saw Hibiki standing rigid and barely able to speak in the face of an inevitable sight.

The airport had been too easy for zombies to wander into, not to mention that people who'd drank the water inside the building had plenty of other people to turn once they'd been infected. There were a lot of people here, but none of them were people any more. They were zombies.

“...This doesn't mean anything!” Hibiki suddenly blurted out, “They could still be sending planes off outside!”

“Hib, stop yelling...!” Chiyo hissed, “You'll attract their attention...”

A few zombies had already turned to look at them. It didn't take long before they began to slowly amble over. But Hibiki wouldn't be deterred. He suddenly ran for the departures lounge, which was completely unmanned. Hibiki made it through the metal-detector without setting anything off, despite that all of them were carrying weapons at this point.

“Through here! We can get onto the runway from here!” Hibiki called back.

“This is bad...!” Chiyo growled.

They followed Hibiki as quickly as they could, but he was surprisingly fast, probably spurred on by his mania. Nothing would stop him, not even all the evidence that the airport wasn't functional.

They made it through an open gate to the outside and... there was nothing. At least nothing functional. The remaining planes all stood dormant and all of the uniformed staff they saw were obvious infected.

Hibiki slowed to a halt, taking it all in.

“Look, we're sorry... But you have to see that this is a lost cause,” Gou said, once they got closer to him.

“No... no... nooo...” Hibiki whispered, “It can't be... We came so far...”

“It's over, Hib,” said Chiyo.

“We... we just need to get in one of the planes! We can fly it... somehow. That's our only chance...!” Hibiki babbled.

“All the way to America? When none of us have any idea how planes work? There's not even any power!” Gou argued.

Hibiki turned to face them now. There were tears rolling fast down his cheeks and he looked more distraught than Gou had seen him up to now. He was shaking all over and he balled his hands into angry fists.

“Then how do I get home? This was my last chance! I'll never see my family again! They might never know that I'm even alive...! My mom, my aunties... even my dad! What if they're infected, too? I'll never know... I'll never know!” Hibiki wailed.

Gou stared at him harshly. She pictured her mom wandered infected around her house. She pictured Rin standing outside his old childhood swimming pool with his back to her, only to turn around with the face of a zombie. She pictured her dad, who'd only wanted what was best for all of them and died without ever knowing what would come of his family.

“...Then perhaps you're better off not knowing,” she said.

Hibiki took a couple of steps backwards, shaking his head.

“Fuck you...! Fuck both of you!” he cried.

And then he was gone. In her anger, Gou watched him push past them and then run back through the gate they'd just come out of. She didn't move. It took Chiyo to bring her back.

“Mal, wait!” Chiyo called, even though it was too late, “Come on, we have to go after him!”

“...Why do we have to?” Gou muttered.

“Because I know you don't want him to die just because you're angry,” Chiyo answered.

That was all it took. Because Chiyo was right. Perhaps Hibiki was an awful person, but that didn't mean Gou wanted him to be savaged by zombies any more than anyone else. He was... distressed about his family and reacting to that in his own way. It was different to Gou's way, but deep down she did understand how he felt.

Gou didn't say anything, but she nodded and then the two of them rushed after Hibiki. He'd already made a lot of progress getting ahead of them. Gou watching him pass a luggage carousel on his way back to the front desk.

“He's fast...!” she remarked.

“Yeah, he plays basketball,” Chiyo said, “Need good legs for that.”

Huh. Kisumi played basketball as well. Perhaps that was how Hibiki and Chiyo had met him. Not that now was the time to wonder about that. Hibiki had made it back out onto the streets and they soon followed. Thankfully it seemed like now he was outside, Hibiki wasn't sure which way to go.

They reached him and Chiyo rushed around to grab Hibiki by the shoulders, trying to shake him out of it.

“Hib? Hibiki? Mal...? Listen to me! You have to snap out of this!” Chiyo called.

Hibiki let Chiyo shake him around like a rag doll for a few moments. Then he sagged his head forward and started to cry against Chiyo's chest. Loud, ugly tears... He was broken.

“Let's find shelter...” Gou said.

It was the best option they had right now. After that, who knew what they were going to do? Certainly not Gou. But none of them were in the right frame of mind to discuss it. All they could do was get off the streets and hope that Hibiki would recover enough to listen to reason.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After almost a week of travelling through the zombie hellscape, Gou, Chiyo and Hibiki are offered a way out.

The road leading directly from Sano to Iwatobi was in a much different state to when Gou had last seen it to how it looked now. The compound guards had used this route frequently in the past, especially when there'd been a lab set up in Iwatobi, so they'd kept it in decent condition and free from zombies for the most part. But now this road was being used a lot more than even the compound had used it. Fresh dirt tracks were and laid over the top of many other dirt tracks. There was discarded rubbish and empty shells littered off to the sides of the road.

Many people had come this way. Many raiders had come this way. There was no doubt in Gou's mind that they were gathering.

But why...? What was waiting for them in Iwatobi?

It was a decent fishing spot, but the presence of the guards made it somewhere that many raiders avoided. Chiyo went there all the time, but he was friendly enough that even the compound guards generally left him alone. Gou sometimes went there in the early days, but... she'd run into people she knew far too often. One time she came across her old school friend Chigusa wandering around as a zombie and it was just too much. Gou didn't like going to Iwatobi.

Still, something had obviously changed here recently. Gou's backtracking to the barn and her trade post had given the raiders she'd seen pass through Sano enough time to get off the road. They must've reached their destination and soon enough she'd get there as well.

All she could hope was that what she'd find there wouldn't be too hostile.

***

They'd slept on the top floor of a library overnight.

Once they'd cleared out the zombies that were there, Gou had put a broom through the door handles to stop any other zombies from breaking in. Zombies were neither that strong nor determined, so Gou had felt comfortable enough to get a good night's sleep. Now it was morning, she felt better for it. Of course she still had no idea what she was going to do, but she'd be in a better position to talk about it now.

The library had a cafeteria and some of the supplies in the storage for it hadn't been taken yet. Meaning that Gou had enjoyed a breakfast of dried biscuits and a juice cup. Only the best... Still, it was something other than canned goods, so she wasn't going to complain.

Chiyo still seemed to be resting, so Gou had been passing the time by reading. She'd found a book on handguns that had proven to be quite helpful. While she was reading up on the Weaver stance, Gou heard someone walking up behind her and turned around.

“...Hibiki,” she said, flatly.

He wasn't exactly the person Gou wanted to talk to right now, yet still he sat down as if she'd invited him. At first Gou went back to her book, but then Hibiki spoke up.

“I'm sorry about yesterday...” he said.

“You should be,” Gou agreed.

“Y-yeah, I should... You've both done a lot for me and I had no right not act out like that, no matter what was going on,” Hibiki muttered.

Gou looked up from the book; “Not that I'm giving you a free pass, but you had just lost your last chance of seeing your family, so I understand. My family are already gone and Chiyo hasn't given up on Kisumi yet, so we weren't going through what you were going through.”

Although perhaps Chiyo would be if they did find Kisumi infected...

Hibiki shuffled around for a moment, possibly thinking the same thing. Yet when he next spoke, he asked something that Gou hadn't been expecting.

“How do you deal with it? Ever since we met up with you, you've been so strong. If I knew for sure that my family were gone, I think that I'd completely give up. But you haven't,” said Hibiki.

“They'd want me to survive,” Gou answered, “I don't know where they are now, if they're in the afterlife or anything else, but I know that they wouldn't forgive me if I just gave up, especially not Rin. I do the best I can, because I know that it'd make them proud.” She stopped, noting that Hibiki was watching her in some kind of awe; “...That's what you should do as well. Heck, your family might still be alive, so that's all the more reason. Perhaps you'll never be able to see them again, but if there's even the slimmest of hope, then you should hold onto that. Just live your life and hope for the best.”

“Huh... that's something,” Hibiki said, “Were you a motivational speaker before the outbreak?”

“I was the manager for a swim team in high school. It's basically the same thing,” Gou dismissed.

“So keep living and try your best,” Hibiki said, “But what about right now? What do you plan to do next?”

“Honestly, I don't know,” Gou admitted, “I was planning on talking to both of you about that when we were all up and ready. Figure out what you guys were going to do and then go from there. We can do that once Chiyo gets up.”

“I think he's already up,” said Hibiki, “At least, he wasn't there when I woke up. I was actually looking for him when I found you.”

Gou closed the book she'd been reading and slipped it into her bag – it'd be useful for later.

“Then let's go look for him.”

They got to their feet and began to search around. The library was big, being several floors high, but there weren't too many places where Chiyo could've gone. Especially since Gou could tell right away that he hadn't gone to any of the lower floors, because the broom hadn't been moved from where it was holding the door shut.

The two of them walked between the shelves and then into the empty cafeteria, calling out for Chiyo as they went. After a few minutes of fruitless searching, they both started to worry.

“He can't have gone far,” Gou insisted.

But where else could he have gone? To the roof? ...Ah! That could be it! Gou remembered seeing another door that led up there. Chiyo had checked it last night and told them there weren't any zombies further up. After that he'd closed it and blocked it off.

Sure enough, when Gou headed towards that door, she saw that the chair Chiyo had used to block it had been removed.

“I think he might've gone up here,” she called.

Hibiki hurried over to join her and the two of them took to the stairs. But before they'd even reached the top, Chiyo met them on his way down. He looked cheerful, like something good had happened.

“Guys! It's the airport! You have to see this,” Chiyo said.

He gestured for them to follow and then ran back up the stairs. Gou and Hibiki exchanged confused glances before following him.

Out on the roof they had a good view of the town, with the airport not being far away. After what had happened yesterday, none of them had been up to travelling too far and had basically fallen into the first safe place to rest, which had turned out to be this library.

Chiyo hurried over to the edge closest to the airport and when they joined him, the two of them suddenly realised the cause for his excitement.

There was movement on the runway. It looked as if the power to the airport itself was still out, but people were there doing... something. On the road below them, they could see a queue of uninfected people who seemed to have turned up since last night, being herded along by others in uniform. Gou didn't recognise the uniform, but that didn't matter right now – someone was there helping others escape.

“Our way out...” she gasped.

“Let's go!” Hibiki bleated, “Let's go find out what's going on!”

They didn't waste any time after that. The three of them hurried down the stairs, grabbing their supplies as they went. It took only a few minutes until they were out on the streets, joining the throng of people waiting to get inside the airport.

“What's happening here?” Gou asked the nearest person, “When we were here yesterday, there wasn't anything and now there's all of this.”

Because as much as Gou didn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth, she also wasn't going to lower her guard completely.

The man looked at her as if he'd recently learned that he'd won the lottery and the shock hadn't quite worn off yet. If he was going to get out of here alive, then he probably had just won the lottery.

“Isn't it wonderful?” he said, “I was just about to give up hope when all of these people in uniform started marching through town, saying that they're going to evacuate survivors. They've set up a safe place where we can all stay until the end of the outbreak. We're so, so lucky...!”

“That is lucky...” Gou agreed.

Hibiki leaned down and whispered in her ear; “Don't you think this sounds too good to be true?”

Next to them, Chiyo nodded. All of them were suspicious.

“Let's give them the benefit of the doubt,” Gou decided, “We should at least hear what these people have to say for themselves before making up our minds.”

They tried to talk to the uniformed guards to no avail. All they were told was to get to the back of the line. In the end, that was what they did. It seemed as if everyone in the immediate area who wasn't a zombie had been herded up, so the line was long and moved very slowly. While they were standing waiting, Gou watched many helicopters flying to and from the airport.

“They're definitely taking people somewhere...” she said.

The day wore on. Hours went by. They gradually crawled closer and closer to the entrance of the airport. It was almost funny to think that yesterday they'd been able to rush in there completely unobstructed.

As they reached the airport itself, Gou saw that they weren't being led inside it. The high fence had been cut open and people were being led through onto the runway. A short distance away from the airport was a growing pile of bodies. Gou recognised some of them as zombies they'd seen walking through the airport yesterday. She tried not to look.

“Not much longer now... Then we'll have answers,” Gou said.

“And hopefully an escape route,” added Hibiki.

Gou wanted to share his optimism, but for now she knew it was better to withhold judgement to avoid disappointment. They followed the queue onto the runway and from there she could see that people were indeed being checked before they were led onto the helicopters. Everyone seemed so eager to get out that they weren't asking any questions. But Gou had questions.

The guards wouldn't give them any answers, so there was no point in asking them. But as Gou looked around, she noticed a woman who stood out from the rest. She was standing away from the crowd and the guards kept going over to her, as if consulting her. She wore a uniform that was similar to their, but with slight variation - she was a leader. A young boy hung onto her legs, hiding behind her whenever the guards came over. So she was a mother as well. But possibly not a very good one, from the way she was ignoring her son.

Still, she was the person who Gou would get her answers from. Gou broke away from the queue and made a beeline for the woman, motioning for Chiyo and Hibiki to follow. As they approached, a guard raised his gun, which wasn't a good sign, but the woman motioned for him to lower it again and the guard did what they were told.

“Are you in charge here?” Gou called, wanting to get the first words in.

“That I am,” answered the woman, “Christine Whittle, founder of the evacuation compound. We hope to get as many people as possible to safety before the infection spreads. And you are...?”

“Gou Matsuoka,” Gou introduced, “And these are my friends, Chiyo Tenfuji and Hibiki... Rhodesdale, I think it was?”

Hibiki nodded, but Christine regarded him critically.

“Is that your real name?” she asked.

“W-well... it's actually, um, M-malcolm Rhodesdale Jr... But I'd rather go by Hibiki,” he said.

So that explained why Chiyo kept slipping up and call him “Mal”, Gou realised. All the same, she thought it was rude of Christine to ask him so accusingly. If Hibiki wanted to be called Hibiki, then who were they to stop him?

“And who's this?” Gou asked. She gestured down to the boy hiding behind Christine's legs, trying to give him an encouraging smile. But the boy just stared at her through wide, green eyes, before hiding his face.

“My son, Hewitt,” Christine dismissed, “It's not ideal to bring him here, but you'll understand that I'd rather keep an eye on him myself while the world is so... fragile.”

“Does that mean it's more than just Japan that's infected?” Hibiki quickly asked, “What about America? Do you know how Orlando, Florida's holding up?”

“That's all classified information,” Christine replied.

“What do you mean classified? I thought you were trying to help us,” Gou said.

“We are helping you. All you have to do is get on a helicopter and you'll be taken to quarantine to be checked and made sure you're free from the virus,” Christine answered, “After that, you'll be taken to the compound until it's safe to return to Japan.”

“What happens to the people who don't pass your checks at quarantine?” asked Chiyo. It was clear that none of them trusted Christine.

“...Then you won't be granted access to the compound,” said Christine, her eyes too cold and calculating for Gou's liking.

Gou took a moment to assess this person and their current situation. Christine was as neat as a pin. Her pale blonde hair was tied back and her uniform was immaculate. Even her make-up was flawless. While around her were people who looked like they'd been through a warzone and were struggling to survive. Those people looked to Christine and thought that following her would lead them back on the path to normality – where they could tidy themselves up and look just as nice as Christine did.

But when Gou looked at Christine, she couldn't help but see someone who kept the best for herself and wouldn't even tell someone about the fate of another country if she felt that keeping her cattle in the dark was for the best.

No, this was not someone who Gou trusted.

“I don't think we should go with you...” Gou said.

“Are you worried that you won't pass the quarantine checks?” Christine asked.

“No, I know that all three of us are clean. We've been travelling together for days now. It's just you I don't trust,” said Gou, “If you won't even give us basic answers, then why should we blindly get onto one of your helicopters?”

“Because it's your last way out,” Christine answered, “Once we leave here and move onto the next town, you'll be stuck. Only a fool would stay behind.”

“Then call me a fool,” Gou decided.

“You'll be the only one,” said Christine, “We've been evacuating people for days and not one person has opted to stay behind. It'll just be you, all alone in Japan.”

“She'll not be alone! She has us with her,” Hibiki spoke up, “R-right, Chiyo?”

“Right,” Chiyo agreed, “I'm not going if Gou won't.”

“Guys...”

Gou regarded both of them. They looked so sure of themselves. Gou hadn't known either of them for very long, not properly, and yet... they'd give up this chance because they trust her judgement. With Chiyo it made sense, he wouldn't go if there was any chance that he might find Kisumi. But Hibiki...?

“Hey, so... are you both sure about this?” Gou checked, looking at Hibiki as she spoke, “If this truly is our last chance, then I wouldn't blame you for taking it. You'll probably be safer where they're all going. I doubt there'd be any zombies, at least.”

Hibiki shook his head.

“Maybe I would be safer, but that's not the right way, is it? I want to do the best I can with what I have. That's... that's what my family would want of me as well, isn't it?” Hibiki said, turning to look at Gou earnestly. He'd taken what she'd said in the library to heart.

“Then it's settled, none of us are going,” Chiyo said, “Which means that we don't have any reason to stick around here.”

Gou saw Christine's eyes flick towards the queue of people heading for the helicopters and then back to the three of them. It would look bad on Christine if three people openly decided not to accept her help and walked away. Christine did not want to look bad in front of her cattle. Gou could tell.

“You're making a mistake,” Christine said, her voice calm, even if her eyes were not.

“Then this is our mistake to make,” insisted Gou.

Christine's eyes narrowed; “I have so many guards here. I don't have to let you walk away.”

“You will let us,” said Gou, feeling oddly relaxed for someone whose life had just been threatened, “If you kill us in front of these people, then they'll panic and not trust you. So you'll at least let us get out of this airport and if you're good, you'll let us leave town as well. Best not waste resources that you could use to kill zombies, right?”

“...Just go.”

They had been granted permission. Hibiki began to back away, but Gou wouldn't let Christine have the last word.

“Thank you, we will go. Not that we needed your permission. I wish you the best of luck with your compound, Christine Whittle. I do indeed hope that you want to help clear the zombies out of Japan to make it safe once again and that you're not just using this as a ploy to gain status,” Gou said, her voice as sweet as ever, “Oh, and by the way, you might want to pay a bit more attention to your son beyond just dragging him around wherever you go. He's clearly in a lot of discomfort right now. My mom would have never ignored my brother or me while we were so scared. If you keep going the way you are now... well, I hope your son turns out okay.”

With that, Gou turned on her heels and marched away. Both Chiyo and Hibiki followed her in stunned awe. It felt good.

The atmosphere was tense as they walked through the entrance that had been cut into the wire fence. Gou could sense people in the queue watching them, but since they were at the tail end of it, there weren't to many people left – just a few more helicopter trips would clear them all out.

There was a chance that Christine would have them shot the moment they were out of view from these people, but it seemed that Gou calling her out about wasting ammo had an effect. Once they'd put several blocks between themselves and the airport, all three of them relaxed just slightly.

This town was almost empty now. Any other survivors were at the airport and many of the zombies had been dispatched by the guards.

“That was... something,” Hibiki mumbled, because someone had to break the silence.

“We know now what's happening and that it's not for us,” said Gou, “But... from the way that woman was talking, I feel like the rest of Japan will be the same as what we've seen. There's no point in travelling further just to meet with the same disappointment everywhere we go...”

“So what do we do now?” Chiyo asked.

It was the question that had been on their minds all day. If everywhere else was the same, then why should they strike out into the unknown? They had committed to staying in Japan. So to Gou, it made sense to do that somewhere that they were familiar with. Somewhere that they'd have an edge over strangers like these guards and even the zombies.

Gou had made up her mind.

“We go home.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Having made their choice not to go with the other survivors, the group now need somewhere else to stay. Gou and Hibiki set out to look for a safe place around Iwatobi, but the best option they find won't be taken without a fight.

The raiders were patrolling. They might not have been wearing uniforms, but Gou recognised a patrol when she saw one. The closer she got to Iwatobi, the less she wanted to be seen by them. She was resourceful, but all on her own, there was little she could do against their sheer numbers if they caught her...

***

Their journey back towards Sano and Iwatobi was a sombre one. This was their choice and even though Gou felt it was the right one, none of them could get away from the fact that they now knew they had no way out. If Christine Whittle represented their last escape route, then they were doomed to stay in Japan. Possibly alone, if Christine was right that no one else had rejected her help.

But at least the three of them had each other, so they weren't truly alone. Gou took comfort in that, though she knew that comfort alone wouldn't help them in the immediate future.

As they drew closer to Sano, Gou realised that her next question wasn't 'What should we do now?', as it once might've been, because Gou knew exactly what they needed to do next.

“We can't go back to our homes - it isn't safe in the towns. So we need to find somewhere else to stay,” she said.

“Let's look around. There's bound to be somewhere outside town, even if it's just until we figure out a better option,” said Chiyo, even if they both knew that their chances of a better option were now slim, “Might be a good idea to split up, we can cover more ground that way.”

In any other situation, Gou would've been cautious about splitting up, but this was an area that they were all familiar with, so she assumed it was the safest place they could part ways for a while.

“Sounds good. How about you check around Sano and I'll check around Iwatobi? Since we each probably know those areas better,” said Gou. As far as the two of them were concerned, that was the best way to do it. But it wasn't just the two of them here. Gou nodded towards Hibiki, who didn't seem to be keeping up with their conversation; “...What about him?”

“Might be best if Hib comes with me,” Chiyo replied, “It wouldn't be fair to send him off on his own.”

In his current state, Hibiki would probably be overcome by zombies the moment he came across any. After all, he still hadn't made any effort to learn how to defend himself. Gou understood that Hibiki was upset about losing his last chance to see his family, but she still felt frustrated with him because of that. Hibiki was more of a burden than anything right now.

“I'll be fine,” Hibiki suddenly said.

They both turned to look at him, surprised that he'd been listening at all.

“It's okay, Hib, I don't mind if you come with me,” said Chiyo, “We know the area around Sano best, so you could help me-”

“I know what I'm doing, Chiyo,” Hibiki snapped.

With that, he took off in the direction of Iwatobi, not Sano. Clearly he had no idea what he was doing. Chiyo made to go after him, but Gou put a hand on his arm to stop him.

“It's fine, I'll go,” she said, “I'm heading towards Iwatobi anyway.”

“R-right. Okay. If you need anything, then we can all meet back up here,” Chiyo replied, watching Hibiki head off with concern, “We should come back here at the end of the day either way, hopefully we'll have good news by then.”

Gou nodded. She could only hope so. What she didn't say to Chiyo was that the other reason she'd rather go after Hibiki was because Chiyo was such a passive person – it was easy to imagine that Hibiki probably walked all over him when the two of them lived together. Whereas Gou wouldn't take any of Hibiki's crap. If he was going to get difficult with her, then she'd get difficult right back at him.

With that resolve, Gou headed off after Hibiki. She gave him his space until they'd gotten around Sano and started on the path to Iwatobi, then she closed the gap.

“I don't need you to babysit me,” Hibiki muttered, as Gou drew close.

“From where I'm standing, it looks like you do,” Gou retorted, “Look, I'm going this way anyway, so you can pretend I'm not keeping an eye on you if it makes you feel better. But I'd rather not let you walk into a horde of zombies.”

“There's so many of them in the towns... Do you think we'll be able to find anywhere to stay that isn't infested?” Hibiki said. He wasn't disagreeing with her following him at least, so that was a start.

“Not in town, but we have to find somewhere. If we can't manage in the places that we're familiar with, then how would we manage anywhere else?” said Gou.

“But how well do we know this place? Can't say I've ever been out here before, how about you?” Hibiki checked.

He gestured to the woods and fields around them. Gou had to admit, that she'd not been off the road here before. As a child, sometimes she'd go camping in the mountains with Rin and Sousuke, but that was the extent of it.

“...We have to stay positive.”

That was all there was to it. The two of them carried on walking, the silence not as heavy now that they'd cleared the air. Part of Gou wanted to ask if Hibiki felt he'd made the right choice by staying with them instead of being evacuated, but she realised that wouldn't be fair. Hibiki was one of them, so she didn't want to make him feel like she didn't support his choice in this.

Their progress was slow, as they were back-tracking and looking around a lot instead of making a direct beeline for Iwatobi. It was over an hour before Gou caught sight of something promising.

“Look over there!” she called.

It was a barn. Gou knew there was a farm somewhere around here, so she assumed the barn was part of that. It stood at the end of a field, the forest behind it, and it looked inviting. Almost too good to be true. There weren't any animals grazing in the field, so Gou assumed the barn was storage for supplies and produce, which would probably be the better option of the two.

“Let's go check it out,” Hibiki replied.

There was a spring in their steps as they hurried across the field. They wanted to check out the barn as soon as possible.

But they didn't get that far.

A few more steps and they would've reached it, but a few more steps and they also would've been dead. Gou saw the glint from the gun. She grabbed the back of Hibiki's shirt, since he was faster than she was, and pulled him back.

“What gives!” Hibiki snapped.

Gou didn't reply to him. Instead, she looked boldly towards the gun; “Come out! I can see that you're there. We don't want any trouble, so let's just talk, okay?”

An older man raised up onto his feet from the long grass by the fence. He had scraggly black hair and bags under his eyes. But most importantly, he was holding a shotgun and he kept it trained on them the whole time he moved. Seeing that made Hibiki freeze up in his tracks and stop complaining.

“If you mean that, then walk away,” he said.

“We just wanted to check out the barn,” Gou reasoned, “You're the first living person we've come across in a while, so we could help each other.”

“Don't need any help,” the man dismissed, “I've got plenty to keep me going here for a while and it'll only be less if I share. The last thing I want is some giggly young couple taking it all for themselves.”

“Giggly?” yelped Hibiki.

“Couple?” gasped Gou.

“You heard me. Now get going and don't look back,” said the man.

Gou felt her temper rising; “You're being an idiot! Even if you do have rations here, they'll run out eventually. If you let us stay, we could help you hunt and gather food to sustain yourself for as long as this lasts.”

“That's a weak argument,” the man snorted, “I don't need the help of some angry little girl and a scrawny whiner.”

“For your information, Gou can shoot a zombie at, like, probably ten feet or something like that!” Hibiki argued, “She sent the leader of those weird uniformed guys packing and she's learned more about handguns in a week than most people will know in their whole lives. And we also have Chiyo, who could snap you like a twig in his bare hands if he wasn't so-”

“-There's more of you?”

That... was a mistake. As soon as the words left his mouth, Hibiki froze. But the man did not freeze, he tightened his grip on his gun and pointed it directly at Hibiki's forehead.

“If I let you go, then you'll get your friend and come back, won't you? Think you can overpower me!” he roared.

“We don't want any trouble!” Gou said, louder than she'd said it the first time, “If you let us go, then I promise we won't come back here.”

Although now that the man had suggested it, they probably could overpower him if they had Chiyo with them...

“Liar! I can see it in your eyes!” screamed the man, “I wasn't born yesterday, girlie! I'm not gonna give you the chance to squeal for help!”

There was no time to think. This man, someone like them, who wasn't infected and just wanted to survive, was going to kill them. Hibiki and Gou both jumped to the side as the man fired, his shot sailing past where Hibiki's head had been until just a moment ago. Gou turned to look and as Hibiki met her eyes, she nodded. They had no choice.

Hibiki barrelled into the man. He didn't have nearly the force behind him that Chiyo would've done, but it was still enough to knock him off his feet. Once they were down, Gou grabbed the man's arms and held them above his head. The man's hands were still clasped tightly around the shotgun. He fired a couple more times, but his shots just landed in the fence behind them.

“I'll kill you both! I'll keep you and live off your carcasses!” wailed the man.

“Knock him out!” Gou yelled, looking around for a rock or anything that might help them do that. The end of the man's gun could work, but his grip on it was too tight.

“You're wasting your time! You can't hold me hostage!” the man protested, “And if you leave, I'll kill you next time I see you. I'll get you before you can get me!”

“It's no good...!” Hibiki hissed. Gou could tell he was struggling to keep a hold around the man's waist; “We have to...”

Gou looked down at Hibiki as he looked up at her. They were both terrified. Killing zombies was one thing, but this was a living person, someone like them. Someone who was just trying to survive. They couldn't take his life...

The man fired another shot into the fence and the structure wobbled. It was an old fence anyway, its foundation weak from years of rot. With a loud groan, the post nearest to them came loose and fell on top of them, smacking Gou on the head.

A sharp pain. On impulse, Gou rolled off, clutching her forehead and crying out. By the time she realised what she'd done, it was already too late. She heard what sounded like a foot impacting with someone's head and she just knew that Hibiki wasn't holding the man down any more. The man was up on his feet and Gou was curled up in pain.

Another shot was fired. A body fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes. But... no more shots came after that.

Gou lowered her hands from her forehead and opened her eyes. A silhouette came into focus against the sunlight, but it was too tall and skinny to be the man. It was... Hibiki!

“You... you did it...” Gou muttered.

She was still feeling disorientated from being hit by the post, but she managed to pull herself up to her feet. Sure enough, once she could see properly, the sight that greeted her was the man who'd assaulted them lying on the grass, bleeding out of his head. There was a vacant expression on his face. He was dead.

“I... I...” Hibiki stammered.

He let go of the man's shotgun and it fell down next to him. Hibiki's eyes were wide and tears were streaming from them. It wasn't easy to watch, but Gou realised with sickening clarity that she felt no sympathy for the dead man.

“He was going to kill us... we had no choice...” she whispered.

“...I don't want you to die! I don't want anyone else to die...” Hibiki sobbed, “He's dead... he's really dead! But you're m-more important...”

He looked at Gou and she knew that she wouldn't wish his situation on anyone. If it hadn't been Hibiki who'd done this, then it would've been either Gou or the man. And if they'd escaped, the man would've come after them. Someone had to die today... that was the sad truth. But the hard part was that it meant someone else had to become a murderer.

Gou walked forward and hugged Hibiki awkwardly. It wasn't a good hug... Hibiki was still rigid with fear and he'd probably much rather that Chiyo was the one giving him comfort right now, but Chiyo wasn't the one who was here. Chiyo wasn't the one who knew what Hibiki had to do...

“I won't tell him...” Gou promised, “We can bury the body and he never has to know...”

Keeping secrets between them wasn't ideal, but from the way Hibiki's shoulders slouched after she said that, Gou knew that he wouldn't protest. In Gou's eyes, Hibiki had done what he had to do, but maybe Chiyo wouldn't see it the same way. In this new world, where everything familiar was being ripped away from them, one of the last things Hibiki had was how Chiyo thought of him. Gou wouldn't take that away from him by branding Hibiki as a killer.

After a few moments of silence, she patted his back and let go.

“Let's move on once we've buried him, okay?” she suggested.

But Hibiki shook his head.

“We need to be practical... Th-that's what you're always doing, right?” he said, “This barn... it's still good. We can't walk away from shelter just to keep me happy...”

And Gou knew that he was right. Perhaps Hibiki had a long way to go when it came to adjusting, even further than Gou or Chiyo had to go, but he was making a start. He'd just done something that Gou hoped she'd never have to do, but with the way things were now, it was impossible to say. She'd cross that bridge when she came to it.

But right now, they had to deal with what they'd done.

It wasn't easy, but the two of them managed to drag the body away from the barn. As far away as they could risk without drawing attention. The grave they dug was deep, because even after shooting him through the head, Gou still felt paranoid that he might come back. The less risks they took, the better. They spent most of the day on it, but eventually they'd buried the man in an unmarked grave. Who he was would forever remain a mystery, but Gou at least would not mourn him.

With that done, they headed back to the barn. It was starting to get dark, so they didn't have the time for a more thorough check like she would've preferred. Chiyo would worry if they were late back to the spot where they'd agreed to meet up. So a quick check would have to do.

They could tell that the man had been living here since the start of the outbreak. There were some supplies and a patch of hay had been arranged into a bed. There was plenty of space for more beds. Plenty of space to live. This would be their best choice for tonight and hopefully for a while after that.

Gou was reluctant to leave the barn unguarded, but other than the man, they hadn't come across any survivors for a while, so she doubted it'd get taken from them. Even if it did, hopefully other people would be less hostile and more willing to share.

So they headed back towards Sano, walking in a much more direct path than they'd taken when coming out here and going as quickly as they could. By the time they got back to the spot, Chiyo was already there, sitting on the ground. He pulled himself up to his feet and headed over.

“There you are, I was starting to get worried,” Chiyo said, “Are you guys okay?”

“Yeah, we're fine,” Gou lied, “We found somewhere at the last moment, so we had to stop and check it out.”

“Did something happen?” Chiyo asked. He was looking at the plaster Gou had put across her forehead, from where the fence post had hit her.

“I fell, but I'll be fine,” she said, “Just need to be more careful. So what about you, did you find anything?” She wanted to change the subject as quickly as possible, for Hibiki's sake.

“Maybe?” Chiyo replied, “I went through the forest and I found some caves on a cliff face, but it wasn't easy to scale up to them. We could stay there, but it didn't seem ideal.”

“Then it's a good thing we have a better option,” Gou announced, “We found a barn. It's big enough for the three of us to live comfortably for a while and it looks like there's some supplies. Pretty close to both the towns as well, so we can travel between them easy enough. I think that'll be our best bet for now.”

“That's great! Let's head on out there now,” said Chiyo.

He gestured ahead of them, but Hibiki didn't move. When Gou looked at him, he still seemed distant. Perhaps he would be for some time. But they had an act to keep up. Before Chiyo could start to worry, Gou gave Hibiki a shove, pushing him in the direction of the barn.

“Aren't you going to lead the way? You're the one that got the place for us, Hibiki,” Gou said, firmly.

Hibiki looked at Gou for a moment. Then he nodded.

“Yeah... Let's go.”

With that, the three of them set out for the barn, their first proper home since the outbreak. Gou wasn't sure how long it would last, but she knew that it gave them hope where they desperately needed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be honest with you guys, when I was planning out this chapter I briefly considered having Gou and Hibiki develop a bit of a thing for each other. But in the end I decided it was more practical to have them bury a body together instead. Who said romance is dead?


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gou parts ways with Chiyo and Hibiki to carve her own path in this world. Eventually she's reunited with the friends she'd thought she'd lost forever and now, for them, she's trying to learn about what hostile forces have taken refuge in Iwatobi...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter of Gou's backstory, which brings us back to where we left Gou in the present day and gives a hint as to what's waiting for everyone in Iwatobi. The next (and possibly final) fic in this series will be called “Late Supper”. More details on that in the end notes.

Gou didn't stay in that barn forever, although she did stay for a while. It was important to her; everything she'd gone through with Chiyo and Hibiki had been important when it came to helping Gou find her footing in this new world. But that was just it – in time, Gou had found her footing.

It'd seemed like an impossible task at first, but Gou managed. She was no longer struggling in the infected world, in fact, she was doing well for herself. She learned how to handle zombies and also how to handle people. What happened with the man in the barn wasn't the only hostile incident that Gou encountered, so she quickly became good at reading the difference between allies and enemies. Because Christine had been wrong – there were plenty of people who chose to stay behind in Japan, even around Iwatobi and Sano. They weren't all bad, either. Many of the people Gou met, she could trade with and share information with in a way that benefited both parties.

At some point, Gou realised she was succeeding, but that brought another realisation along with it. One that wasn't as pleasant:

Chiyo and Hibiki were holding her back.

Gou hated to think that. They had been good to her, they'd looked out for her on numerous occasions, and she hoped that she'd stay friends with them for a long time. But they were also set in their ways and those ways could be difficult to deal with.

For all he tried to change, Hibiki was sadly hopeless. He stayed in the barn most of the time, too nervous to venture that far out unless they directly told him that they needed his help. Chiyo made many raid back to the apartment he'd once shared with Hibiki and brought back photos, clothes and other items for them, but Hibiki seemed to consume without giving back. Every time Chiyo found a handheld games console or any other battery-powered devices during their raids, he would bring them back for Hibiki. Gou would watch Hibiki's eyes light up when he saw the consoles – he'd be able to disappear into his world of escapism for a while longer.

And sadly, because Chiyo enabled his behaviour, Chiyo wasn't any better. If he could just stand up to Hibiki and put his foot down about all this, then maybe the situation would be different, but Chiyo was far too wishy-washy for that. Gou was tired of it always coming down to her to try and talk sense into Hibiki.

If she stayed with them, Gou knew it would ruin her friendship with them in time. Which she didn't want. She liked them both and she wanted to be on good terms with them from here on out. That was why she had to leave the barn.

Despite all of her grievances about him, it was Hibiki who she told first. He took it well, which was exactly why she'd started with him. They were stood outside the barn, resting against the fence and waiting for Chiyo to come back from burying the ashes of a fire.

“So I'm guessing you already have somewhere to go, if you're telling me about it?” Hibiki assumed.

“Yeah, I've been working on it for a while. That's why I haven't been around as much,” said Gou, “I'm sorry to have gone behind your backs about this.”

Hibiki shrugged; “That doesn't bother me. You did what you needed to do. Chiyo might be more upset, but he'll come around. It isn't like him to hold a grudge.”

“That's what I'm hoping...” Gou replied.

“Where are you going? If you don't mind me asking,” said Hibiki.

“I don't mind. In fact, I want you both to know so you can come visit me,” Gou said. She gestured towards the forest behind them; “Remember when Chiyo found those caves? I went to check them out. I could see why he dismissed them at first glance, but they'll be useful for what I need them for. It isn't easy to scale up to them by hand, but once you're up there, there's a lot of space. Some of the caves go quite far back.”

“So you'll be able to store your stuff without worrying too much about being robbed. That's good, if you're going to be living alone,” Hibiki agreed.

“It's not just that – I want to start a business there,” Gou announced, before frowning when Hibiki regarded her sceptically, “Don't look at me like that! There's enough people around that I think it might work out. That traveller the other day told me about trade posts she'd been to in other places, but there's nothing like that here. If I can be the first, then I think I'll do well for myself.”

“It's a bold plan, but that's you all over,” said Hibiki, “All right, so you make the first trade post in Iwatobi and it's far enough out in the forest that those uniformed creeps don't bother you. But how will people know you're there?”

She nudged Hibiki with her elbow.

“That's where you and Chiyo come in,” Gou answered, “I'm counting on the two of you to get the word out in the early days, so it'll take off.”

“Chiyo will do that,” Hibiki huffed.

“I know he will, he's very good. But I think that it'd be good for him if you helped as well,” Gou replied, trying to be tactful with this, “Once I'm gone, that'll be a lot of pressure on Chiyo to provide for you both. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if you helped him out with the raids.”

“We'll see...”

Hibiki didn't meet her eyes after that. But at least Gou could say that she'd tried.

***

It had been a steady season of trade, probably the best that Gou had seen in a fair few years. Perhaps it was wrong to say that people were comfortable in their current situation, but they were certainly accepting of it now. The world wasn't going to recover, the zombies weren't going away, so everyone made do with what they had. A society had built up amongst the raiders and, Gou supposed, amongst the guards from the compound as well, even if the raiders kept away from them as much as possible.

The trade post had been a success. Gou's hard work had paid off. She wasn't the only trade post in this area now, but she was the best known and most reliable. People came to her first. And it had been that way for... longer than Gou cared to admit. She was no young teenager any more, heck, she wasn't even in her twenties any more, but that was as much as she was willing to admit. Not that it mattered – Gou was still as resilient as ever.

...Would Rin and Mom be proud of her?

Gou often wondered that, when she was alone in her caves like she was now. She liked to think that the answer was yes and that if there was an afterlife, one day she'd join them to be greeted by their praise. Dad would be there, too...

A light breeze was blowing today and Gou had been doing inventory counts for hours. The combination made her tired, so she'd sat down to take a rest. Gou hadn't intended to sleep, but her eyes grew heavy and she felt her head nod.

By the time the bell rang, she jerked back awake, so she must've nodded off. The bell signified raiders who wanted to trade, so Gou got to her feet, ready to head out of the cave and lower the ladders. That was when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hey! It's Chiyo!” he called up, “I've got some friends with me. They just broke out of the compound and they could do with some supplies.”

Gou blinked in surprise.

“What, seriously?” she called back.

In all of the years she'd been out here, Gou had never heard of anyone escaping the compound. The guards all seemed content in their employment, but the people who'd been evacuated by Christine Whittle might as well have vanished without a trace. Were they being held against their will? The compound wouldn't want you to believe that, but then the compound weren't exactly known for being transparent about their actions. If people had escaped, then that did suggest that they didn't want to be there...

Gou hurried out of the cave and looked over the ledge to see a sight that she'd never expected to see.

“Gou!”

...That voice! It was Sousuke!

Not only Sousuke, but so many people who she'd assumed lost years ago.

“Sousuke...” she gasped, “And Makoto, Haru, Kisumi... even Mrs. Yamazaki! You guys... you all made it!”

“You know them?” Chiyo asked, looking around everyone without any idea what he'd brought about.

“Know them? They were my closest friends!” Gou answered, “Just let me lower the ladder and you can all climb up. I just can't believe this... After all these years! You have to tell me everything.” Then she hesitated; “...Haru, are you all right?”

Because Haru... didn't look like himself. In fact, he looked like a zombie. He was missing an eye and parts of his skin were hanging off, yet he still stood just like Haru always had done and not in the slouched, zombie way. He still felt like part of the group.

“...N-neveeer bett-ter...” croaked Haru.

“It's kind of a long story, but believe us that he's safe,” Makoto called.

“I'd believe anything from you guys,” assured Gou, “Come on up.”

So the seemingly impossible group came up to join her. Sousuke was the first to the top and as soon as he reached her, they hugged tightly. In that moment, they each knew that they didn't need to tell each other about Rin's fate – they both knew. But they were both surviving and that was what Rin would've wanted for them.

Once everyone was in the cave, they all had so much to catch up on, not just why Haru was zombie-like. Everyone looked so much older, especially poor Mrs. Yamazaki, Sousuke's mom, who seemed to be worse for the journey they'd taken to get here. And Hayato was an adult now! She hadn't even recognised him at first, because the last time Gou had seen Hayato, he was just a little kid. But Gou reckoned that she looked older as well. And besides, the salt and pepper hair wasn't a bad look for Sousuke.

It didn't take long of talking for each party to explain what had happened to them. Gou learned how the others had escaped to the mountains, only to be later taken in by the compound and in return, Gou told them about how she'd been separated from Rin and made her way in this world.

But there was one person noticeably absent from Chiyo's side and as they carried on, Gou couldn't avoid asking about that as she carried on with her own tale.

“Well, even if it took you a long time to get here, I'm glad that we found each other in the end,” Gou said, “Once I knew there was no one left to find in Iwatobi, I set out for the country without any clear idea what to do. That was when I met up with Chiyo and Hibiki, who were escaping from Sano. Hey... where is Hibiki anyway?”

She looked over at Chiyo and he just shook his head.

“We got careless. He's not with us now,” Chiyo answered.

“Oh Chiyo, I'm so sorry...” Gou whispered, “We always used to joke about how he'd never make it...”

“Maybe this was a release for him,” said Chiyo, “He just wanted escapism and everyday it got harder and harder for him to do that. He'd just stare at the pages of books, but not see the stories. So maybe... this is a good thing... But y-yeah. Better carry on though, so everyone can get caught up...”

Gou sighed. This wasn't the right outlet for Chiyo to deal with his grief, bottling it up while the others talked. But he also wasn't wrong that they did all need to catch up with each other.

So as far as Hibiki was concerned, that was just... it. Gou and Chiyo shared a look of understanding, because he'd been their friend. Kisumi was the only other person in the group who'd even known Hibiki (possibly Hayato was well, but Gou wasn't sure), so the others couldn't fully relate to their grief about his loss. But that was how it was in this world – one day, someone you'd known for years would just be gone, often in tragic circumstances. All you could to was carry on and hope you'd have time to mourn them later.

It quickly became apparent that Sousuke and the others were on the run – being pursued by the compound, because they wanted Hayato back. Apparently he'd been a scientist there. But that wasn't what was important to Gou right now. Her friends needed her help. That would always come first.

Gou decided to leave her reliable trade post without hesitation. She'd gotten her family back. Perhaps she'd lost Hibiki in the process, but that was exactly why Gou wanted to make sure she wouldn't lose anyone else. She would do anything for them.

And so, Gou devoted herself to their cause.

***

...That fence wasn't there the last time Gou had been to Iwatobi. It must've been constructed during the last year. Crudely constructed, but sturdy all the same. It was high and even if you got to the top, you wouldn't get over the barbed wire easily. She could tell right away that it wasn't made by the compound though, because the fence had clearly been pulled together using scraps. If it had been made by the compound, then it would've been brand new.

So the fence, combined with all the raiders she'd seen patrolling the area, told her that raiders had claimed Iwatobi for themselves. It must've been the place mentioned on the poster Gou had found back in Sano. But did that mean some crazy cultist was the ringleader of all this...? They'd certainly gathered together a huge following, by the looks of it.

Gou didn't blame any of the raiders, even if she wouldn't be swayed so easily. They'd all grown and made lives for themselves since the start of the outbreak, but since the cure came along, suddenly they were being forced out of their homes by the compound. Japan was being taken from them. Of course they'd turn to anyone claiming to help them.

But could anyone actually help them...? Gou knew how widespread the cure was now. Iwatobi and the surrounding area had been lucky that it hadn't reached here as much yet, but probably everywhere else in Japan was being cleared out of zombies. The compound was practically an army - how could a few raiders stand up against that?

She kept in hiding, because she didn't trust this place. Using any cover she could find, Gou crept around the fence until she reached a large gate where the road led into Iwatobi. Of course this was the most heavily-guarded part.

How could she get information if she couldn't get inside?

Perhaps this would be enough. She could already go back to the cottage and tell the others that she knew the raiders were gathering in Iwatobi and that they seemed to be forming... something. Yet Gou's stubbornness demanded that she learned more than this. She wanted to know exactly who was in charge and what their intentions were.

In her haste to get closer, Gou ventured too far out from the tree she'd been crouching behind. She noticed too late that one of the guards turned his head to look at her. He motioned for a couple of the other guards to follow him and they walked over to where Gou was hiding.

Crap!

Gou raised her handgun, despite being outnumbered, but the three guards did not do the same. She noticed that the one leading them waved his hand at his companions, stopping them from pointing any weapons at her. Clearly an attempt to gain her trust, but it was a risky move on their part. Gou could've shot all three of them while they were giving her the benefit of the doubt.

But as they drew closer, Gou was glad that she hadn't shot them. Her eyes widened in surprise as she recognised the man leading the guards and she saw that his eyes did the same as he recognised her. He had such a round, soft face that matched his portly figure, and his clean-cut appearance betrayed that he hadn't been living out in Japan for that long. This was someone who was used to life in the compound.

“You're...” she mumbled.

Awkwardly, Gou realised that she didn't remember the man's name. After all, they'd only met each other very briefly, more than a year ago, when he'd helped bring the others back from Tokyo. Before he'd flown away in a helicopter with-

“...I think you should come inside,” the man said, sounding equally as awkward. He obviously couldn't remember her name either; “There's a lot to catch up on.”

Gou nodded, face set into a frown.

“Yes. Someone has a lot of explaining to do and you're going to take me to him.”

And Gou reckoned that she'd take whatever answered she was given a lot better than Sousuke was going to when he found out about this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that's it for Gou's backstory! Ending on another cliffhanger that'll lead us into the next fic.
> 
> The next story in this series will be called “Late Supper” and as I said at the start of this chapter, it may well be the last one in the Trail Mix series. I say “may” because at one point I believed that Prison Food would be the last story in this series, but we've gone a lot further than that now, so you never know. But at least right now, I intend for Late Supper to be the last fic, tying up a lot of the plot threads that have been building over the last few fics.
> 
> Just in case anyone needs a recap, before Gou's backstory, there was a one-shot about the death of Sousuke's mother, called Convenience Store Sandwiches. At the end of that fic, we saw Gou separate from the group to travel to Iwatobi, while when Sousuke & Makoto returned to the mountains, they found that the cure had finally reached them – putting Haru and Chiyo at risk. During Balanced Lunch, we've been following Gou's journey, but at the start of the next fic, we'll be going back to the mountains to see how the others have been faring. Sousuke will be taking the role of our narrator again, because for the final Trail Mix fic it felt right to end on the POV of the same character we started with.
> 
> And once again, I want to thank everyone who's stuck with me this far. Because of the support this series has gotten, I've been able to make it into a much bigger project than I ever could've imagined it would be. It's been wonderful to be able to tell all the stories that I've wanted to tell in this world. Heck, this chapter wraps up what's essentially been a platonic fic between Gou and two OCs, which I'd never dared have written a few years back. So thank you for all of that. When I do finish this series, I know I'll be able to look back on it and be proud of how far its come.


End file.
